


The Seventh Stone

by Watermelons000



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Author is not good at feelings, BAMF Tony, Civil War Team Iron Man, Extremis Tony Stark, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Humor, Hurt Tony, Infinity Gems, Italian Tony, JUST, Multi, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Beta Read, Not Clint Friendly, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Salty author, Shield Agent Laura Barton, Tony Feels, We Die Like Men, You Have Been Warned, all over the place, but i tried, hopefully, let’s make that a tag, mentions of - Freeform, not team Cap friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2019-09-01 09:49:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16762729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Watermelons000/pseuds/Watermelons000
Summary: What if there weren’t just six infinity stones? What if there was a seventh that remained undetected, hidden away in a human who didn’t know?For years Tony has been living with betrayal after betrayal, unaware of the power he truly holds.I’m bad at summaries, read or don’t.





	1. It’s Been a Long Time Coming, Coming

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Seventh Stone](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14482059) by [Elenduen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenduen/pseuds/Elenduen). 
  * Inspired by [The Seventh Stone](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14482059) by [Elenduen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elenduen/pseuds/Elenduen). 



> If this has already been done or something, give me a heads up so I can add it as an inspiration. I couldn’t find anything, but you never know ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Chapter Titles are lyrics from Love by Imagine Dragons.

It’s a cruel thing, love. Even if you try to avoid it, it always sneaks in somehow. Tony knew better than anyone the results of loving something, or someone.

He had learned from a young age when his father, eyes filled with hate, rained blows down upon his child. Tony had held out hope that his father might find any sort of positive emotion to the boy, after all, the opposite of love wasn’t hate; it was impassiveness. Uncaring. Ignorance. He was wrong.

Tony also got a first hand experience in these as well however, after Howard forced Mamma to take those pills. Antidepressants, he had called them. Tony would snort if he could. Howard killed his mother with her kind words and loving hands, and left the husk of a woman in her place.

Tony smiles bitterly. Or at least tries to. The dried blood on his face and his cracked lips make it almost impossible. Whatever, it’s the thought that counts. Too bad Rogers didn’t give Tony any thought. Life was funny like that. Rogers thought he was mad because he had watched the Winter Soldier kill his parents. Like hell, he was glad to see his bastard father gone. His mother had been dead anyway, at least in all the ways that counted. There was no soul still living in her, only a body, a shell. Just existing.

No, what really grates on Tony’s nerves is the _hypocrisy_. ‘Oh Tony, we can’t trust you because you build weapons for the military.’ Not built, build. ‘Oh Tony, you shouldn’t lock us out of you lab, secrets aren’t good for a team.’ Yeah, and leaving a lab full of sensitive documents and important electronics in a house of spies isn’t good either. Ah, and his personal favorite, ‘Tony, how can we ever place our faith in you again after you created Ultron?’ Bull fucking shit. They let a Hydra witch, a woman who willingly joined Hydra, killed for them, tortured innocent people for them, onto the team without a second thought. She fought against them, for fuck’s sake, with Ultron! She only switched sides when she found out she would die. Poor little waif, Wanda Maximoff, who’s parents were killed by an illegal Stark missile, and her brother killed by a murder robot she helped create. Pft.

Hold on, back it up. What was it the fast little shit had said? When they were fighting? ‘One word staring up at us’ or something like that? It should have been somewhere between three and four and a few numbers if it was a true Stark-made weapon. Stark Industries, and then the name of the line and model number. Similarly with the weapons in Afghanistan, he knew they were his because they would say things like Stark Industries, Mangler, 0098164, or Stark Industries, Observer, 0165399. He’ll have to follow this particular trail if he ever gets out of this hell hole.

Tony tries to move, but he’s too cold. His entire body is locked up and freezing slowly. He feels a warmth seeping around him, but no pain ironically. That’s probably a bad sign, considering all of the sharp pieces of metal engraved into his skin, but as cold as he is, he’s pretty comfortable. Maybe even comfortable enough to fall asleep...

No. Bad Tony. Stay awake. As soon as the suit went offline, Friday should have sent out a distress call. Now all he has to do is wait for... who? Rhodey‘s hospitalized, Pepper removed herself from that protocol long ago, stating she couldn’t handle it anymore, the Spider-Kid was sent back to Queens. Vision maybe. Or T’Challa? No, T’Challa was already here, he picked up Rogers and Barnes. Bruce is AWOL and Thor is off world. Who else would she call?

His brain’s to tired for this, best to focus on his breathing that’s getting steadily more difficult. He coughs, retches really, blood spurting from his mouth onto his face. Hey, yay, punctured lung and fluid filling the chest cavity. How fun.

Tony wants to know what causes this. What makes people push him away so much, even when he has proven several times over how devotedly he would love them, does love them? What is it? Yinsen was right. He is the man who has everything and nothing. Tony loved Yinsen, a rare, genuine friendship blossoming between them. Too bad the man payed the price for it.

Tony loves Rhodey and Pepper and Happy too. More than he can ever express, which is probably why he tries so hard to show it in the first place. He hopes Rhodey will forgive him for his injury, but he knows it’s a futile wish. Pepper, beautiful strong Pepper, left him too, a few months ago. He knew he had to let her go, Happy is a better match for her anyway, but it still hurt, ached like a limb that just wouldn’t heal right.

And the team. Tony will admit it, some part of him still loves them, still hopes they will come back for him. It’s dumb, he knows, they won’t. The small seed of hope won’t die, though, so he guesses he’ll have to make do.

At least he still has his bots. Dum-e, Butterfingers, and U, probably the only ones in his life that still care about him, and he made them. He has his beautiful baby girl, his daughter Friday as well, and he’s so very proud of her. Maybe, its a long shot, but maybe he has Vision, who is Jarvis but not Jarvis. Although, Vision loves Maximoff and he isn’t one to stand in their way. So he has his creations, his babies if he ever makes it back. That’s all he needs, really.

The sun is starting to set, casting deep shadows all over the base. Tony registers the temperature dropping, but it doesn’t bother him like he knows it should. He’s not shivering anymore either. His vision his steadily waning, but that’s fine. It’ll help him go to sleep easier if he doesn’t have to worry about closing his eyes.

He’s not going to make it back, he realizes. He’ll die here, cold and alone. Surprisingly, he finds he doesn’t mind anymore. His will makes sure his bots are taken care of, along with Pepper, Rhodey, and Happy, hell even the Avengers will be set for life. That’s good. The world needs Avengers.

He’s so cold, but its getting warmer now. It’s a nice warmth, like a hot bath after a grueling day out in the cold. If he closes his eyes, he can almost imagine the water lapping against his neck, warm unlike that cold in the Afghanistan caves. He smells those Epson salts Rhodey always insisted on having when they shared a dorm in MIT, the eucalyptus and peppermint clouding his brain. Why shouldn’t he sleep again? It’s so calm, like snow on a winter’s day...snow...Snow, right, Siberia.

_Sir, you must remain conscious_. It’s okay, Jarvis, he’s ready. He distantly finds it funny that Jarvis is the voice of his shoulder angel, trying to guard him from dying. It’s almost poetic. He’s not a religious man by any means, but if there is something out there, he hopes he gets to go to the good place. It’s a futile wish, but he still wants it all the same.

_Sir, please, you need to wake up_. Now why would he do that? He’s finally falling asleep, and no nightmares are trying to tangle his mind for once. There’s a bouncing pressure on his chest. It’s very uncomfortable. He wants it to leave him be, return to the state he was in only a few seconds before.

_Stark, c’mon, snap out of it_. Wait, why is his internal voice calling him Stark. He calls himself Tony. Something warm slips over his mouth, and he feels his lungs being forced to inflate. Then the breath is gone and the compression on his chest resume.

_That’s it, Stark, wakey-wakey, open your eyes_. And he does. It takes some effort, but the blurry face of one Laura Barton come swimming into view. Now he’s positive he’s dead, why would she be here? He doesn’t even really know her, nor she him. He must be dreaming.

“That’s it, good job,” she cajoles, looking him up and down with barely disguised horror.

“Sir,” Vision says, slipping into his line of sight. “Sir, you are gravely injured. We need to move you, but the suit is too heavily damages. I fear that should we jostle it too much, it will injure you further.”

“Stark,” Barton snaps, and he opens his eyes again with a flinch. She softens her tone. “Tony, we need to know where the release catches on the suit are. We have Ms. Cho’s cradle right here primed and ready, but we need your help to get your out of the suit.”

Tony tries to say something, anything, but all that comes out of his mouth is a throaty rasp. He pauses, then begins blinking his eyes rapidly. Luckily, Barton catches onto the Morse code right away. “Armpits...elbows...neck...gr- seriously?”

Tony gives her what he is sure is a blood stained smile, but still a smile all the less. It pulls at his face weirdly and the cuts begin bleeding sluggishly again, but he doesn’t care. Someone’s here to save him. He’s going to live.

Barton sighs and pinches her nose. “You better survive after all of this so I can kill you myself,” she threatens, but reaches for all of the clasps. She does the groin first, probably because that area is the least damaged. Pain racks through his body, as if suddenly all of his nerves were reconnected at once, but Tony keeps smiling anyway. He breathes out harshly, in a horrid imitation of a chuckle.

“Laugh it up, playboy,” she says, but without heat. Next goes the elbows, then the neck, and finally the armpits. The chest plate shifts minutely, and a fresh bout of pain suddenly washes through Tony’s entire body. Vision quickly sets to work, gently pulling each piece of metal away, and consequently skin as well. Tony can’t hold back the whimper at that, and Barton looks at him with kind and sympathetic eyes. “Almost done.”

The last of the suit falls away and immediately Tony is immobilized in the air. Vision uses the mind stone to carefully sit him in the cradle. The android pushes it into the jet Tony had somehow missed landing right next to him. Barton returns to his side with the shield and arm in her hands.

“Wait,” Tony manages to get out before Vis closes the lid. “No....caves.....dark.”

Barton’s eyes are confused for a second, but then light up in understanding. “It’s okay, honey, Ms. Cho will keep the lights on inside if you want. She can even open a viewing window for you.”

Coming out of literally know where, Helen Cho suddenly sticks him with an IV line. Fucking doctors, always trying to keep him healthy. “I know Mr. Stark. Lights on, glass clear, minimal meds.” She injects something into the port, and Tony feels his pain slowly begin to trickle away. Tony pauses to scan her serious face for deception. To his complete surprise, there is none.

Gathering all of his strength, he reaches for Barton’s hand. She takes it, a bit confused, and he taps out a pattern with his finger on her wrist. Slumping, she drops her head.

“Good night, Tony,” she says with a small smile, and Tony closes his eyes.

*****

He wakes up slowly, feeling better rested than he has in a really long time. He sees the grey-blue ceiling and random burn marks scattered across it, and realizes that somehow, he’s in his room. He turns his head to the side and is surprised to see one Mrs. Barton, reading a book in the chair by the nightstand.

“What?” He croaks.

She looks up and snaps the book shut. “You’re awake.” She sounds...happy almost. Standing up, she makes her way to his bed. Gently she places her hand on his forehead and pushes his hair back, like a mother checking her child for a fever. “How do you feel?”

“Like crap, but good crap,” Tony replies, throat dry. Barton smiles at him and reaches for a small cup with a straw on the nightstand. She raises it to his lips, and Tony drinks it, eying her suspiciously.

“Why are you here?” He asks once he finishes. A stormy and complicated look crosses her face.

“You invited us here, after my husband,” she spits out the last word, “left us to go play hero with Captain America of things he didn’t even understand.” All of her gentleness is gone leaving behind a retired agent of Shield, battle-hardened and emotionless.

Tony looks at her, realizing he is toeing some unknown line in the sand. “But why are you here-here, like here in my room?”

He expects her to look angry, to ask harshly what he has in here that he doesn’t want her to see, like Rogers and other Barton and the rest of them did. He doesn’t expect the tears beginning to brim in her eyes.

“You saved my babies,” she says, “after even their father left them. Ross was two minutes away from the farm when those suits came to pick us up. And then they brought us here, to your home and you took the time to offer us a place to stay, even though I know you were just seconds from taking off again. You were there for us when no one else was. The least I can do is return the favor.”

“Barton, you know-“

“Bowman,” she interrupts. “Call me Bowman, or you know what, better yet, call me Laura. Heaven knows how many times you’ve been by already just to visit. I think we can be on a first name basis by now.”

“...what?” Tony questions elegantly.

“Laura Barton was a retired Shield agent whose husband’s friends betrayed her. She and her kids died when a corrupt military official bombed her family’s farm. Laura Bowman is a single mother of three, whose husband became a criminal for breaking and entering and went to jail. She grew up in Minnesota, and moved to New York for business opportunities after the divorce. She struck gold and is now the personal assistant to one Tony Stark.”

Tony blinked.

“Her best friend Maggie also got a PA job with Stark Industries for Mrs. Pepper Potts and her husband Jim became Head of Communications between security and the police department. They live in an apartment in downtown New York and the Bowman family now lives in Stark tower, quite happily may I add.”

Tony was silent for a moment, processing what she said, and then, “No, oh no no no, I am so bad around kids, you have a husband-“

“-ex-husband-“

“-who is waiting for you, listen, I can get you another farm, or a house in the suburbs or something-“

“-why get a house when you can live in Stark tower-“

“-and this is all a horrible idea so why don’t we just part with nice tidings-“

“-you can’t fire me, I’m under Ms. Potts paycheck-“

“-I can go back to changing the world-“

“-and sulking alone-“

“-I have my bots, and Vis-“

“-Tony-“

“-I’ll be fine, I can get you a really good job with another Stark Industries position-“

“-Tony-“

“-You’ll like it, I swear-“

“-Tony!“

Tony, try as he might, flinches back. Laura lowers her voice.

“Look, if you really don’t want us here, no don’t interrupt, if you really don’t want us here, we’ll go. But if this is some form of self-punishment or worry of what Clint will think, don’t push us away. We like it here, and besides, Ms. Potts and Friday think this will be good for you.”

This is getting too close to emotions Tony doesn’t want to deal with, so he quickly changes the subject. “You know Friday? How long was I out for?”

Laura smiles at him like she know what he is doing, but is allowing it. “Yes, and about three days.”

“Three days!” Tony tries to sit up quickly, but is quickly pushed back down to the bed.

“Yes, three days, and you will remain on bed rest for another three,” Laura says firmly.

“But I have stuff to do, people to see, stuff to see, and people to do,” Tony says as more of a habit than anything, mind already focusing on what needs to get done. “Why does my head feel foggy?”

Laura bites her lip and pulls back her hand to her lap. Alarm bells start going off in Tony’s head, so he allows himself to fall back to rest against the headboard.

“There...were some complications,” she starts, and Tony’s heart drops into his stomach. “You required more Extremis than was humanly possible and your rib cage would never completely heal...it was the only way.” She gestures helplessly at his chest, where he sees heavy bandaging he hadn’t notice before.

With shaking hands, he reaches for the strips of cloth, pulling them away slowly. Upon removing the last layer of gauze, a familiar blue light spilled out onto his chest. Or rather, from his chest.

“I’m sorry,” Laura whispered as Tony stares, horrified. He tears his gaze away from the arc reactor, the torture device he had thought he had freed himself of, now one again resting firmly in his chest.

He keeps his eyes on Laura, fighting down the panic attack bubbling just below the surface. He’s not there, the cave is long gone, it’s 2016 and he’s lying in bed in Stark tower. Once he is sure he can keep his voice level, he asks, “What else?”

“Um,” Laura says, trying and failing to discretely wipe her eyes. “You might actually like this bit. Friday found out your brain is now permanently connected to the internet and any electronics within a hundred meter radius.”

Tony’s mouth drops open in shock. “No way.” He’s been wishing for technopathy since he was two. He knew that it could be a theorized side effect of Extremis, but that was at a dosage so high the body would eat itself trying to maintain the energy levels needed. Hence, the arc reactor. “That is so awesome!”

Laura chuckles, albeit a bit watery. “Yes. The foggy feeling is probably Friday holding back all of the information until you were aware so it wouldn’t assault you at once. You also don’t want to intentionally put all of your brain out onto the internet.”

Tony winces, because yeah, that would not be cool. “So, can Friday and I communicate telepathically?”

“ _Yes boss_ ,” he hears the familiar Irish lilt, although for as clear as it is, he can tell the words are not coming in via his ears.

“No shit,” he discovers. Then, keeping his mouth shut, “ _Hit me up, Friday. I want to know all every little dirty secret on the World Wide Web_.”

“ _Right away boss_.” Tony can feel the amusement coming from his AI. Underneath it he finds concern and anger, and below all that, love. It’s as if his eyes have been opened to everything he’s been missing, which is both disconcerting and amazing at once.

“Woah.”

“ _Beginning information release at one percent a minute_ ,” Friday announces, and he braces himself. “ _Do not worry boss. It won’t hurt. I’ve already built up enough firewalls around your mind to protect it. I’m sure you can touch up on them in a moment._ ” Tony almost slaps himself, because duh, he’s basically half computer, of course he’ll need protection against viruses and hackers and shit.

“Don’t worry about it sweetheart, I trust you.”

Slowly, the foggy feeling disappears. The first thing Tony gains access to are the cameras in his room. He experiments flicking them on and off again. It’s surprisingly easy, just a thought directed towards them, and the red light at the top goes out and illuminates again.

“Sweet science, this is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Laura’s eyebrows furrow together and she scrunches her nose. “Getting betrayed, dying, and having an experimental surgery result with another arc reactor?”

“No,” Tony says like its obvious. “I just got the powers of my dreams.” He squints his eyes and sputters, at a lost for words. “Why-why would you even ask that? No, dying is not the best thing that has happened to me. Bowman, I have powers. Technological powers. Oh, I am going to cause so much trouble for Rogers.” He chuckles evilly.

“And I fully support you in that,” Laura empathetically agrees. “But you need rest first.”

“But Laauura,” Tony drags out her name obnoxiously. “I’m gonna take over the world. Evil masterminds don’t need bedrest.”

“Of course,” Laura says, tapping his nose with her finger. “And moms don’t need AIs to tell that you haven’t slept well in a long time.”

Tony grimaces. “ _Traitor_.”

“ _Ms. Potts granted her full access_.” Friday seems almost smug, the shit. If anything, her smugness only grows at that last thought.

“Can I at least use the bathroom?” Tony snarks.

“Yes,” Laura says, nonplussed, so he navigates himself out of the blankets. No point in wasting a free opportunity to escape his bed. “Before you see yourself, remember Extremis heals, so your body’s a little...different.”

“What does that mean?” Tony asks as he walks through the door way and freezes. There in the mirror in front of him stands a face. he hasn’t seen in at least two decades. He leans closer, almost hesitantly, and the twenty year old in front of him does the same.

“Goddamn,” he says, licking his lips. “I look so hot. Rhodey‘s gonna be so jealous.” He sees Laura roll her eyes behind him, so his sticks out his tongue.

“You are taking this all surprisingly well,” she comments.

“Don’t worry,” he rubs at his goatee, which doesn’t have a single strand of grey in it anymore. “I foresee at least five panic attacks in the near future.”

“Is that supposed to reassure me?” Tony doesn’t have an answer for that so he shuts the door. After doing his business he returns to the bed, but doesn’t slip under the covers.

He leans against the headboard and pulls a tablet out from under the bed.

“Seriously?” Laura prompts.

“You’re not letting me leave,” Tony points out. “Might as well get some work done.” He also really wants to try out his new technopathy.

“Fine,” Laura begrudgingly relents. “But seeing as you’re not doing anything else, the kids can join you for a movie.”

As if on cue, three kids tumble through the door. Tony shoots Laura a look of utter betrayal, then turns to the girl already climbing into his lap.

“Hey kiddo, how’s it going?”

Lila looks up at him with wide eyes and a pout. “You haven’t visited in forever.”

Tony rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yeah, well, been kinda busy.”

“Fighting dad,” Cooper says, voice hard and anger simmering in his eyes. He takes up post next to the bed, arms crossed and defiant.

Sighing, Tony wraps his arms around Lila, successfully holding her still and giving her a hug at the same time. “Coop, it’s complicated...”

“No,” Cooper snaps. “It’s not. Dad left us in the middle of the night with no notice or note to go join Captain America. He went because you and over 50 percent of the world wanted accountability and the Captain didn’t like that. So he abandoned us to Ross to go help that Witch. He ignored his own actual kids for a full-grown adult he insists is a child. Now he’s a criminal, and in jail, and we almost died-“ his voice cracks as his eyes well up with tears. He closes his eyes and looks away. Tony waits to let him finish because he recognizes this outburst was a long time coming, and even with as shitty as his own mental health is, he knows it’s not good to keep that type of anger bottled up. “You helped us. The farm is gone and you gave us a place in your home. You barely even know us, yet you’re a better caregiver than dad ever was.”

Silence covers the room.

“...Come here, Cooper.” Tony holds out an arm and the thirteen-year-old falls into it almost relieved. “Buddy, I know this is hard. I know this situation is a big sh- mess, I was going to say mess because we don’t curse around children-, but can you give Clint a chance? At least let him tell you why he did what he did?”

“If I may, we know exactly why Clint did it,” Laura speaks up, lifting Nathaniel so he can clamber up the bed easier.

“And why’s that?” Tony asks, genuinely interested.

“We aren’t exciting enough for him,” Cooper spits.

Lila nods, and action Tony feels more than sees. “He’s already remodeled the entire house like three times ‘cause he’s bored.”

“I warned Clint before we even got married that he was in love with his work. He was too used to moving around and doing all these missions. He wasn’t mature enough for kids, but he assured me he would be there the entire time, helping me to raise our children. ‘No more missions,’ he promised. I knew he was lying, of course, there was no way he would just quit, even for his family, but I thought he would at least be there when we needed him the most. Do you know what he looked forward to the most this last year? You, your visits, but not because you were his friend or anything. No, it was because he was desperate for information, itching for even the smallest reason to leave us, his family,” Laura explains.

Tony sits there, speechless.

“How many times did he go on Shield ‘missions’ before you learned about us?”

“Four to five times a year,” Tony recites, finding his voice.

“How long did these missions last?”

“At the very most two weeks.”

“I only saw my husband and my kids their father four to five times a year for two weeks at most at a time,” Laura says. And then he promises to retire and I think ‘maybe this is it. Maybe he’s done for sure,’ but no. He takes off six months after Nathaniel is born on some half-assed call from Captain America in the middle of the night without telling us. Suddenly, five of your suits come and this Irish lady claiming to be your AI is telling us we have to run...that was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“Laura, I’m so sorry,” Tony says truthfully. “If there’s anything I can do, anything at all...”

“You have nothing to be sorry for, you’ve already given us so much, in fact we owe you our lives. This is all on Clint.”

“Why couldn’t you have been our dad?” Lila murmurs helplessly. Tony looks at Laura alarmed, but her face holds only a deep sadness.

“Oh no, honey bunch, you don’t want that,” Tony tries. He attempts a smile when she looks up at him. “I would make a horrible father, my dad wasn’t all that great either. I would forget your birthdays and buy stupid and expensive gifts to make up for it. I’m more of that rich weird uncle who never gets married and leaves all his money to his pets, or in this case, robots.”

“I think you’d make a great father,” Cooper mutters, barely audible to Tony who is right next to him. “Better than Clint is anyway.” Uh oh, first name usage, Tony knows intimately the amount of vitriol a kid has to have to refer to a parent by their first name, especially after so long of just calling them ‘dad’.

“You can be our rich uncle then!” Lila decides, having missed what her brother said. “Uncle Tony, who has robots! Can you make me a robot?”

“Depends,” Tony says, finally taking pity on Nathaniel, who has been trying to crawl into his lap with his sister in the way. He lifts him by the armpits and puts him on his other side. “What kind of bot and if your mom says yes.”

“A robot wolf,” Lila declares, and Tony chokes on his saliva, “With sharp teeth and red eyes. And black fur. Oooh! Can I name it Demon?”

“Jesus Christ,” Tony finally gets out around his coughing. “Bowman, there is something wrong with your kid.”

Laura smirks. “I think it’s a wonderful idea, if its not too much trouble. And I think Demon is a wonderful name,”

“In the name of all that’s science, I swear you guys are going to get me arrested if you let this thing loose,” Tony says, already thinking up blueprints. “I suppose it will help protect you guys from Ross and villains and all that. Should I make one for Lang’s family?”

“Yeah! Ours can be friends,” Lila says, immediately excited by the idea. “But you should make them a different animal.”

“What about a tiger?” Tony suggests, aware of the irony of him suggesting this.

“Yes! Can it be a white tiger?” Lila begs.

“I don’t see why not. Alright, so a white tiger and a black wolf. I’ll get on that.” He sends the ideas from his head to the tablet on the bed, amazed when it buzzes with the received information.

Laura picks it up, lazily swiping thorough the plans. “Name the tiger Lucifer,” she decides, handing him his precious device.

“You,” Tony points at her. “You are worse than them. “For fuc-fusion’s, I was totally going to say fusion, yay science not-bad words-, sake if it gets out to the public that I made two robots capable of killing someone and named them Lucifer and Demon, I’ll probably be arrested and put on trial. Publicly. And probably in a very humiliating manner. You know what, if I get arrested, I am taking you gremlins down with me.”

“Fair enough,” Laura complies, but it doesn’t feel like a win for some reason. Tony judges her silently as he looks over Lila’s shoulder at the schematics in his hands.

“Can you make the eyes purple when it’s in safe mode and they turn red when it’s aggressive?” Cooper suggests, and Lila nods in agreement.

“Sure,” Tony agrees, and switches out the plain red bulbs for color changing ones.

“Hold on, no,” Laura suddenly says, and they all freeze. She looks accusingly at Tony. “I was told to keep you from working for another three days.”

“This isn’t working,” Tony disagrees. “This is for fun. Besides, it’s much more entertaining than a movie and its not like I’m physically building it right now.”

“I’m so going to get fired,” Laura relents after a tense period of staring, and Tony gives her a shit-eating grin.

“Considering you are probably the only one on this earth that will put up with me, I think not,” he argues.

“That’s not a inspiring as you think it is,” Laura says, but lifts herself from the chair and sits on the bed beside him. “Scoot over, I want to help.”

Tony shifts over, and they all rearrange themselves until Tony is in the middle of the bed, Laura curled up on his right, Lila and Cooper on his left, and Nathaniel on his lap.

“You’ll regret this,” Tony warns.

“Shut up and build.” Laura swats him on the head. “What material were you thinking for the skeleton?”


	2. Seeming Like We All Been Running, Running

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Demon’s creation, and Pepper receives her mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *uploads new chapter*  
> I’m just gonna leave this right here.  
> *Disappears back into the mounds of schoolwork due*

“Well this is unexpected,” Tony says, four days later as Dum-e sprays everyone down with a fire extinguisher. “Dum-e! Stop! We’re not even in the same room as it! Don’t think I won’t donate you to accounting.”

The bot lowers his head, but Tony doesn’t feel even the smallest hint of remorse from him.

“That was so cool,” Cooper breathes, dusting the foam off of himself.

“No, it was not, because it wasn’t supposed to explode like that,” Tony replies, frowning as he stares at the charred remains of what was once a steel skeleton for Demon.

They look away from the window to the testing room, the one Tony built after he accidentally blew up three floors of the tower. It is now completely hulk-proof, tried and tested, so he wasn’t too worried about any damage that may have been caused by the large fire.

“We’re running diagnostics now,” Lila says from where she is sitting at a desk, surrounded by holoscreens. He’s still surprised at how quickly she learned to use them, manipulating at least six while she looks for the bug. Her eyes scan the colorful schematics in front of her quickly, swiping away that layer and moving onto a different screen within seconds.

“Found it,” Friday announces, pulling up a new hologram in the ever rotating ring around the girl.

“The steel isn’t working well with the arc reactor,” Lila explains after a moment of studying the display. “You need a stronger element.”

“Titanium?” Tony suggests, but she shakes her head.

“That works for your suit because it’s larger than what we’re trying to create. Titanium doesn’t have enough durability in this small of a quantity,” Lila throws out, fingers dancing among a periodic table as she selects elements and throws them out, seemingly at random. “We need a different composition. Aha.” She holds up an atom triumphantly. “Got one. Adamantium.”

“The knock-off vibranium?” Cooper asks, and Lila makes a noise of agreement.

“How do you know what vibranium is?” Tony wonders aloud.

“I did an in-depth study of it after Clint told us some of his battle stories,” Cooper answers. “Captain America’s shield was practically made to break the laws of physics.”

“Someone else mentioned that too,” Tony says absently as he rubs at his chest. He brings himself back into the present. “Run a simulation on adamantium?”

They all turn to the largest screen in the room, showing a the frame for their robot. It runs around the room, lays downand stands up, and overall appears to work.

“Right,” Tony says, turning away as it turns off. “Lucky for you, I have a lot of adamantium.”

“Why?” Cooper inquires, eyes tracking Tony as he makes his way across the workshop.

“It makes pretty good body armor,” answers Tony. He puts his hand on the pad next to an unmarked door and it slides open noiselessly, revealing a storage room full of shelves. He strolls down the aisle marked with an ‘A’ and pulls out a large bin.

“You store your scraps in Tupperware bins?”

“Yep,” Tony says, selecting the approximate amount he’ll need and a bit more. Cooper accepts the answer with slightly raised eyebrows, and picks up a small pile.

“This is lighter than I imagined.”

“Stronger than most metals, though,” Tony explains. “Once it has been cast, it’s nearly indestructible.”

“Cool.”

They take all of the materials and carry them over to the fabrication units. It’s times like this that Tony is glad Extremis gave him a younger and healthier body. If he had been back in his older self, he’d definitely be regretting all this hands-on after only a few hours.

“Friday, time of completion?”

“An hour and a half, boss,” she replies.

“Perfect. We have time to go get lunch. Set an alert for when it’s finished.”

“Already done,” his baby girl says. He sends her his feeling of pride, receiving a bashful answer.

“Right-o, kiddos, what do we want for lunch?”

“Olive Garden?” Cooper suggests as the elevator takes them to the common room.

Tony wrinkles his nose. “Ew, that’s fake Italian. They don’t even know how to pronounce bruschetta. What is it exactly you want from Olive Garden?”

“Lasagna,” he says defensively. “Mom doesn’t know how to cook that.”

“How about I make you lasagna?” Tony offers.

“You can cook?” Lila asks incredulously, and Tony gives her a mock offended look that clashes with the pleasant ding from the lift.

“Yes I can cook,” he says. “It’s science for food. I’ll also have you know that I make a mean lasagna.” They both give him dubious glances as they stroll into the kitchen. He bristles. “You guys are attacking me. I’m feeling attacked right now.”

“What exactly is making you feel attacked?” Laura speaks up from her place at the table next to Nathaniel. She has a bowl on the high-chair tray, that’s filled with what looks like applesauce, except it’s green. Tony feels for the kid, who’s smacking his hands around, trying to knock it over. He wouldn’t want to eat rabbit vomit either, no thank you. He had enough chlorophyll for two lifetimes when he was dying from palladium poisoning.

“Your spawn don’t believe me that I can make lasagna,” Tony tattles. He turns back to the kids. “My mom was Italian, by the way. Just so you know.”

“Really?” Cooper asks, suddenly interested. “Did you visit Italy a lot? Do you speak Italian?”

“Every summer for about eight years,” Tony reminisces. “And of course. It was my first language. Didn’t actually learn to speak English until I was ten, right before I was shipped off to boarding school.”

“You spoke English with the press,” Laura says with a frown.

Tony shrugs. “Not really. I knew enough from picking it up around the house, so I could give short one word answers whenever the jackals asked me questions. They thought I was shy, which Howard liked because it gave him positive press. I don’t think he even realized our language barrier until right before school when our butler Jarvis brought it to his attention.”

“Huh, the more you know.” She spoons another bite of green mush into Nathaniels mouth. Tony wants to spit it out for him. “You speak really good English, I wouldn’t have known if you didn’t say anything. You don’t even have the trace of an accent.”

“Yeah, Howard was the epitome of a proud American man, and wasn’t too happy having a son with English as his second language. I perfected it quickly.” Tony knew the hidden meaning behind his words flew over the kids heads, but Laura’s eyes followed him with a knowing look.

“Can you teach us Italian?” Lila begs. “Please, Uncle Tony, please? You’re my favorite uncle.”

“Really laying on thick there, aren’t you,” Tony can’t help but tease.

“He’s your only uncle,” Laura reminds them all.

Lila huffs. “You know what I mean. So please?”

“Of course. Why don’t we start now? You can help me make the sheet pasta.”

“Yes,” Lila whispers with a fist pump.

They go around the kitchen, collecting ingredients as Tony tells them their translation. He explains every step in Italian, and then English, and the kids begin to pick it up quickly. Soon enough, the lasagna is finished and in the oven.

“Now recite with me,” he says while they’re seated at the table, waiting for the food to cook. “ _Io ho, tu hai, egli ha, noi abbiamo, voi avete, essi hanno._ ” He opens his mouth to repeat it, when his phone begins to ring. He sends a burst of Extremis towards it, groaning when he discovers Ross, the idiot not the younger. “Hold on.”He answers the phone, speaking aloud and using his thoughts to carry the words through the line to Ross’s side. “You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message.”

“ _Tony, we have a problem, there’s been a breach at the Raft prison-_ “

“Ah, please hold,” Tony says, and thinks of the most annoying hold music he knows: Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows.

_“No. Don’t-_ “ the connection is cut.

“What was that about?” Laura asks.

Tony sighs. “There’s been a breakout at the Raft prison. The Avengers escaped, amongst other things.”

Laura purses her lips. “How many criminals were released?”

“A little over two dozen,” Tony answers, double checking with Extremis. He sends a message to Friday to have her track the team while he jumps from camera to camera, trying to figure out where all of the bad guys went. “Several guards are experiencing severe mental breakdowns as well.” Realizing immediately that it’s almost impossible to follow twenty five people at once, he brings his mind back to himself. Friday pings only a few short milliseconds later with the team’s location.

“Idiots,” Laura hisses. “Any idea where they are now?”

“The criminals? No clue. The Avengers? They’re in Wakanda. Barnes went back into cryo a few days ago.”

“Are you just going to leave them there?” Cooper’s face has fallen into a bitter scowl.

“They aren’t causing any problems, at least for us,” Tony counters. “Might as well have them all in one place. Widow’s still in the wind, but I’m fairly certain she’s going to join them soon.” He chuckles at the images and short clips Friday sends him. “They’re not making any friends there, either. The only one who even tolerates their presence is T’Challa, and he’s slowly being worn down as well. As far as I can tell, he only offered Barnes sanctuary, but Rogers took it to mean asylum for the entire team.”

“Sounds like something he would do,” Laura agrees.

Tony is saved from further conversation as the oven timer goes off. He pulls the dish out and puts it onto the stove top, hissing as he burns himself through the shitty oven mitts. Note to self, invent better kitchen supplies. He splits the lasagna between four plates and they dig in.

“I am sorry for ever doubting your cooking skills,” Cooper says with his mouth full. “This is really good.”

“Thanks,” Tony accepts, blowing on the food on his fork. The rooms falls silent, save for the clinking of silverware on the plates, so Tony allows his mind to drift. He takes a minute to check in on Rhodey’s progress in the hospital. He’s awake and doing well, the braces Tony designed and sent helping him tremendously in physical therapy. Tony misses his best friend like crazy, but he’s the one responsible for his paralyzation and he doesn’t want to face the bitterness Rhodey will hold for him. He knows when he’s fucked up, so he’ll leave Rhodey to his own devices and not intrude on his family by dropping by for a visit.

“Tony,” Laura says, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Are you okay?”

He realizes everyone is watching him, so he clear his throat. “Yeah, I’m fine, just thinking.”

She clearly doesn’t believe him, but goes back to eating anyway. They finish up quickly and he and the kids race back down to the lab.

This time their framework doesn’t explode. It goes through the tests with ease, even when they set off a small bomb next to it.

“Oh my god, Dum-e cut it out!” Tony cries, and the bot races away from him. Tony chases after him, foam streaming behind him like a weird video game graphic. “Give it to me. Give it!” Tony launches himself over a work table, successfully latching onto Dum-e’s frame work. He grapples for the fire extinguisher, trying not to get sprayed in the process. “C’mon, you little microbe, give. Me. The. Sprayer.” Managing to rip the instrument out of Dum-e’s claw, he darts away in success.

Cooper comes and snatches out of his hands before he can react. He hands it back to Dum-e.

“Betrayal,” Tony hisses at the both of them, and Cooper sticks his tongue out.

“Tony!” A voice calls from across the ‘shop and Tony blanches.

“Oh shit,” he mutters.

“Curse jar,” Lila chides happily without looking away from her screens. Tony catches a simulation play out with a dramatic and untimely ending and Friday informs him that they are developing a material for Demon’s fur. “He’s in here, Ms. Pepper!”

Pepper rounds the corner and stops in the doorway, hand rising up to cover her mouth in shock, so Tony takes a moment to take in the room. Tony himself is in the middle of the lab, across a workbench table where he is in a standoff with Cooper and Dum-e. The three of them are covered in extinguisher foam and oil from who knows where.The testing room window is still transparent, so the view of the fires leftover from the small bomb is clear as day. U and Butterfingers are poking at the scrap remains of their last few experiments, some of which are still smoking. In the middle of all this sits Lila, engrossed in her screens and not seeming to realize that her outfit and face are covered in soot.

“What happened?” She wonders, mildly horrified. Then she finally seems to register Tony. “You look younger.”

“No comment to that first part,” Tony points the nearest object at her, which turns out to be a wrench. “And Extremis.”

She nods, looking him up and down and staring a bit too long at the arc reactor. “Friday told me about everything. Tony I am so sorry.”

That was not what he had been expecting. “Wait what? You have nothing to be sorry for, Pep.” Behind his back he motions for the kids to take a break. They leave the lab as if it was on fire, which granted, it was a little.

“I shouldn’t have left you like that,” Pepper says, voice cracking. “You needed me, and I left you alone with them.” Her voice takes on a bitter edge, leaving not doubt as to who she is referring to. “I knew, I knew you were breaking, but I-I left. I couldn’t-couldn’t handle everything you needed, and I knew that, but I was selfish and tried to keep you to myself.” Tears are leaking from her eyes now, and Tony is internally panicking, not knowing how to handle these emotions trying to take him hostage. “I promised you I would stay with you, even when things got bad, but I abandoned you and for that I can never forgive myself. I stayed away, and you called, and I ignored you, and suddenly you’re in the hospital, in a coma, and I have to wonder if that’s my fault.” She buries her face in her hands.

“Hey, no Pep, none of this was your fault,” Tony says waving his hands around lackadaisically, trying to figure out how to escape this...whatever it is. “It’s all on Rogers and them. You couldn’t have known.”

“That’s just it. I should have known. I should have been there to back you up, but instead I was too busy wallowing in my own pity-“

“Stop it,” Tony snaps. “You are one of the most amazing people I know. None of this was your fault. You made your choices, and I respected them, still respect them. Only I get to berate myself in this household, sorry, but them’s the breaks. You shouldn’t feel responsible for anything, other than the torture you put me through with paperwork. Also, I am genuinely happy for you and Happy.” He chuckles at his little joke.

Pepper gives him a watery smile. “I have done most of the paperwork for you this past week,” she admits.

“See? Consider any wrongdoings, not that there are any, forgiven.”

Pepper seems to think about it. “Still, if there is anything else I can do...” she trails off, uncertain.

“There is something actually,” Tony says after a moment. “Jocasta, honey?”

“Yes, Tony?” The recently activated AI answers. “Hello, Ms. Potts.”

“Hello, Jocasta,” Pepper replies, suspicious but tinted with a little bit of excitement. She’s always loved working with Tony’s AIs.

“How do you two lovely ladies feel about taking down Ross and anyone who decides to side with him?” Tony reveals, pulling up all of the files and evidence he has against the Secretary of Defense. It’s a lot, but he can see Pepper’s eyes light up.

“What can I slap him with?” She interrogates. “What’s the catch?”

Tony raises his hands. “No catch. You can hit him with as many lawsuits as you can get to stick and then some. In short, go crazy.” Pepper grins like the cat who caught the canary.

“He is so going down. Jocasta, be a dear and send all of this to legal? I have a feeling we’re going to need a little help.”

“Right away, Ms. Potts,” Jocasta complies, and Tony revels in the excited anticipation humming through her.

“ _Keep me updated, honey_ ,” he tells her.

“ _Will do_ ,” she answers. He wraps his “code” around hers in what he’s discovered is a mechanical interpretation of a hug.

“Tony,” Pepper catches his attention. Her face shows pure business now, determination an opposite contrast to the emotional state it carried only a few minutes prior. “What about you? We need to do a press release soon, especially with you looking all...that.” She makes a motion that captures the general outline of his entire body.

“No problem,” he says. “Helen and I were already planning on releasing the Extremis research, heavily censored of course. I’m just one of the first human trials.”

“Okay,” she says, breathing out heavily. She visibly steels herself for what she probably believes will be a hard conversation. “Have you visited Rhodey?”

“No,” Tony admits. “He doesn’t want to see me.”

She gives him an incredulous once-over.“That is the exact same thing he said when I asked if he had visited you. Heads up, neither of you blame the other. He doesn’t blame you for his spine, because that was not your fault. You don’t blame him for this whole shebang, because he was not there due to injury. At least call him.”

Tony watches her face closely, looking for any sign of trickery. There is none. “Okay.”

“Okay?” He nods and she seems a little surprised. “Okay. I’ll go get into feeding our pet sharks. I have a feeling they’ve started without me, which totally isn’t fair. There’s blood in the water, and I want first taste. Will that be all, Mr. Stark?”

“That will be all, Ms. Potts.”

She looks around the disastrous lab once again and gives one final, decisive nod. She strolls out of the lab like the goddess she not so secretly is.

After a few minutes, the kids come slinking back in.

“Ms. Pepper is your CEO, right?” Cooper inquires. “We met her while you were in recovery.”

“Yep,” Tony says, popping the ‘p’. “The one and only. What do you think of her?”

“She’s cool,” Cooper decides.

“I wanna be just like her when I grow up,” Lila announces, and Tony grins.

“Me too, kid, me too.”

“You’re already an adult,” Cooper points out.

“Doesn’t mean a man can’t dream,” Tony fires back. “Now what were you thinking for the fur?”

********

Four hours later finds the three of them plus Laura watching the final tests for Demon and Lucifer. Demon approaches the dummy, scanning it for a potential threat. Her eyes flash red in detection of the fake trigger Tony had placed and she pounces on it, knocking it to the ground.

“Demon, return to original position,” Tony says over the intercom. Her eyes shift back to purple as she takes up her place on the red X in the middle of the testing room. “Demon, activate Enhanced Combat Mode.”

The test resets itself and Demon approaches the dummy once again. This time when her eyes turn red, she doesn’t just knock it to the ground. The doll is in shreds in a matter of seconds, Demon’s whirling teeth making short work of the fabric and cushioning. When the purple signals safe mode again, Tony tells her to turn off Combat Mode, which she does. He mentally runs over her code one last time, and finally gives the kids the go ahead.

They open the door and Demon trots out.

“Good girl,” Lila immediately praises. She scratches her behind the ears and Demon tilts into it, just like a normal dog would. Her tongue lolls out and her tail begins to wag. Even though Tony coded her, he’s still surprised at the personality she’s already beginning to develop. Like all of his bots she is a learning program, and watching Lila and Cooper fawn over her, he’s pretty sure she’s going to turn out a diva.

He turns his focus on Lucifer. “Go ahead, Lucifer.” The large tiger follows the same pattern Demon did, with the exception of weaponized claws instead of teeth, and blue eyes as opposed to purple. He passes with flying colors, so Tony releases him from the testing room.

“Hey, Tadashi,” Tony calls.

“Hello, Tony,” the AI greets him. “Do you require assistance?”

“Actually, I was wondering about you, bud,” Tony says, leaning back against his desk. “How would you like to fly the Iron Man suit? There’s a delivery I need made, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be accepted through conventional means.” He eyes Lucifer warily.

“I would love to,” Tadashi accepts. “What do you require me to deliver?”

“Can you take your brother Lucifer to Maggie and Jim’s house? Tell them he’s a gift for Cassie and explain his functions.”

“Of course. Shall I go now?”

“Preferably,” Tony says. “I think he’s a little excited to meet his new family.” As if in agreement, Lucifer trots over and nudges his hand.

“Right away.” One of the suits walks over from it’s holding place and holds out it’s hands. “C’mon little brother.” Lucifer leaps into its arms, settling fairly easily.

“See you later,” Tony tells him. “And Lucifer, be good.” Tadashi walks out to the landing pad and takes off, repulsors kicking up dust and harmless smoke. He turns around, realizing someone is missing. “Where’s Nate?”

“Put him to bed. It’s almost bedtime for the other kids as well. Speaking of kids, how many AIs do you have?” Laura asks, coming over to sit next to him.

“Uh, I don’t know. A lot.” She gives him an unimpressed reckoning. “Okay, fine, hold on.” He lifts up his hand and lists off on his fingers, “Butterfingers, Dum-e and U, Friday and Jocasta, Tadashi, Mirror, or I think it’s Karen now, Demon, and Lucifer. So, like nine.”

“What happened to Jarvis?” Laura prompts curiously. “Clint always used to talk about him.”

“He, um, he died,” Tony says, forcing his voice not to crack. Try as he might, the memories are bubbling up to the surface. He closes his eyes and calls on years of perfecting to bury them deep down again. “Ultron killed him.”

“Oh, honey,” Laura consoles, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine losing one of my own children.”

“Yeah,” Tony laments for a lack of anything better to say. “I put part of him in Vision in hopes of maybe saving him, but no dice. Vis doesn’t deserve for me to place the expectations I had for Jarvis on him, so I let him go. He’s his own man. Jarvis is gone by my own fault. Vision has no part to play in my inadequacies.”

“What?” She pulls back to look him in the eye. “I find that hard to believe. The ‘it’s my fault for killing him’ thing, not the ‘Vision has no part in this’ thing.”

“If I hadn’t been messing with the mind stone, Ultron wouldn’t have gotten out and Jarvis would still be alive.”

“Did you intentionally let Ultron out?”

“Well, no, but-“

“Did you know there was a malicious force in the scepter?”

“No, but-“

“Then it’s not your fault. No one could’ve known, and if memory serves correct and Clint wasn’t being a lying dick, Banner was helping you as well.”

“But I should have told them,” Tony whispers before he can be interrupted again.

“Do you tell them every single experiment that you do ever? Or every tiny breakthrough you have in technology?”

“No.”

“Well then, why should that time have been any different?”

“Because it affected the team,” Tony implores, trying to get her to see his reasoning.

“When Ultron came out, were you actively experimenting on it?”

The sudden change in direction threw Tony for a loop. “No, I was running scans.”

Laura made a rolling motion with her hand. “There you go. I’m almost positive several scientific breakthroughs you had affected the team as well. Better body armor material? Longer lasting com links? Deadlier but more accurate weapons? Did you always tell them what you did on every ‘upgrade’?”

“Sometimes, but they didn’t really want to listen to me try to explain it to them. They said it was egotistical because I was talking about things that only I understood in a way that only I could understand.”

“Do you know what that means? That means that they can’t blame you for not telling them, because to me it sounds like they used to berate you for doing so, so you stopped.”

“I...I...I’m just so tired,” Tony finally admits, allowing himself to be pulled back into her embrace. “Of this, of everything. I just want to go back to the way things were, before Barnes, before Ultron, hell, even before Loki. I was never meant to work with a team.”

“On the contrary, the team wasn’t meant to work with you.” Laura doesn’t say anything else, just rubs his back soothingly.

Eventually Tony pulls away. He gives a small smile, although it’s clear it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Thank you.”

“I’m a mother,” Laura reminds him. “Seeing through bullshit what I do. If you don’t mind me asking, where is Vision?”

“I’m not really sure,” Tony admits. “He told Friday he needed space and took off. Last she traced him, he was in Europe doing some soul-searching or something.”

“You just have the worst luck, don’t you?” Laura cajoled.

“Not luck,” Tony corrects. “It’s karma for everything bad I’ve done in my life.”

Laura grimaces. “Okay, I am sensing you are in a bad place right now, so I am not going to touch that yet, but this conversation is not over.”

“Looking forward to it,” Tony snarks. She gently cuffs him over his head, and Tony swats at her arm. 

“Boss, sorry to interrupt, but there is a man in the lobby with a package for you.” He and Laura exchange glances.

“Huh,” Tony says. “I’m not expecting anything.”

“Neither am I,” Laura agrees.

“Scan him and send him up, baby girl,” Tony says cautiously.

There’s a few minutes wait where the two adults watch Lila and Cooper engage in some sort of weird game of tag with Demon and the rest of the bots, when there’s a tap on the glass door.

The oddly familiar man squints at the package in his hands. “Are you...Tony Stank?”

Laura covers her nose and lets out a very unladylike snort. “Yes, this is Tony Stank.” She turns to Tony, mirth in her eyes. “Go on, Mr. Stank, go get your package. Are we out of air fresheners? Cologne? Soap?”

Tony rolls his eyes. “Ha ha, very funny.” He opens the door. “You can just sit it down on the floor, I don’t like being handed things.”

The FedEx employee gives him a weird look, but complies. He turns around and walks out, seemingly unbothered by his trip into the Stark Tower.

Tony picks it up, surprised at how light it is. Carrying it over to a workbench, he nabs a screwdriver from somewhere. He stabs the tape at the seam and draws his hand back, cutting into the box.

He tears into it and sees a phone that probably belonged to a dinosaur and a folded up piece of paper. He reaches for the note first.

_Tony,_

_I'm glad you're back at the compound. I don't like the idea of you rattling around a mansion by yourself. We all need family. The Avengers are yours, maybe more so than mine. I've been on my own since I was 18. I never really fit in anywhere, even in the army. My faith's in people, I guess. Individuals. And I'm happy to say that, for the most part, they haven't let me down. Which is why I can't let them down either. Locks can be replaced, but maybe they shouldn't. I know I hurt you, Tony. I guess I thought by not telling you about your parents I was sparing you, but I can see now that I was really sparing myself, and I'm sorry. Hopefully one day you can understand. I wish we agreed on the Accords, I really do. I know you're doing what you believe in, and that's all any of us can do. That's all any of us should... So, no matter what. I promise you, if you need us, if you need me, I'll be there._

Tony drops the letter in shock, already beginning to curl in on himself. Laura rushes over and grabs the paper, eyes scanning over it quickly.

“The fucking nerve,” she curses, throwing it on the table. “Tony, Tony honey, look at me.”

Tony can barely hear her over the rushing in his ears. He’s back in Siberia, the wind howling, chest broken, and spirit cold. His breathing hitches, and he has to make sure the arc reactor is still in his chest. He beats at it mercilessly, fist repeatedly making contact with the hard metal and glass. Fingers wrap around his wrists, and the scene around him shifts back to Afghanistan. There’s hands, ripping at his chest, voices shouting in some unknown language, harsh barking and laughter...

“Tony, baby, focus on me.” A woman’s voice says. That’s odd, there are no women in the caves. “That’s it, follow my breathing. In, out. In, out. Good job.” Brown hair comes into focus, soft eyes filled with concern. He finds himself entrapped by them, because there’s no pity. Everyone looks at him with pity. Or hate. But her eyes are warm.

“L-Laura?” He gasps, throat raspy.

“There you go,” she says softly. “Are you with me?”

“Y-yeah,” Tony stutters. “I...Ro-... god. Just...yeah.”

“Good, that’s good honey. Is there anything you can think that you absolutely need to do right now?” Tony shakes his head. “Okay then. I’m going to put the kids to bed and we are going upstairs to watch a movie. I’ll get some snacks, does that sound alright?” He nods his head. “Alright. Cooper, Lila, say good night to the bots.” They both let out an “awww” but do as they’re told. “Come Demon.”

Laura sends the kids plus Demon to their floor with strict instruction that it’s getting late, and they need to get some sleep. There’s some half-hearted complaining, but Tony can tell that they’re more exhausted than they’re letting on. The adults get off on Tony’s floor rather than the communal one, much to Tony’s surprise. Most people avoid his room at all costs, with the occasional exception of Pepper and Rhodey.

Laura plops Tony down on his bed, disappears into the kitchen, and comes back with two colorful drinks and a bag of white cheddar popcorn. Tony’s just aware enough that he almost has a minor freak out at the beverages.

“I don’t drink anymore,” he blurts. Laura raises an eyebrow at him.

“I know. For a supposed alcoholic, there’s a distinct lack of liquor in this household. These are what I used to make when I was pregnant and Clint disappeared for a mission. Believe it or not, they take the edge off. I think it’s a psychological thing.”

Tony takes the glass, albeit a bit uncertainly. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” She sits down next to him cross-legged, not quite close enough to touch, but he can feel the heat radiating from her body. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” Tony confesses, tucking his knees up to his chest.

“That’s fine, we can just put on a movie. What do you want to watch?”

“White Chicks?” Tony asks, waiting for her to tease him for his choice in movies like the team always did. He takes a sip of his drink, jerking a little at the taste. It’s almost like a strawberry-raspberry lemonade mix with a sweet undercurrent, and he finds himself trying to figure out the ingredients so he can make it himself.

“White Chicks it is,” Laura agrees. The lights lower and she slowly pull him into her, gentle but not tentative. Tony goes willing with her until he is lying with his head in her lap, relaxing as she begins running her fingernails lightly over his scalp. “Isn’t that the one with the Pomeranian hanging out the window?”

“And the Yo Mama battle,” Tony likens softly, already losing himself in the beginning scenes to the movie and the gentle scratching sensations in his hair. His eyes slowly begin to drift shut. “Shh, this is my favorite part.”


	3. Feeling Like the Wild West Gunning, Gunning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhodey and more children

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hahaha I’m back bitches. I had some heavy summer courses so I wasn’t able to write much, but this next year is supposed to be lighter. We’ll see. Anywho, no this work is not abandoned, I’m still working on it when I have time :)

The next day Tony receives a visitor. He and Laura are just finishing up her new documents, Laura filling out holographic “paperwork” and Tony listening in and adding her to the internet archives as she decides her life aloud.

“What country should I be from?” Laura wonders, leaning back in her chair at the kitchen table and stretching her hands over her head.

Tony, eyes closed but keeping an eye on her with the cameras in the room, deletes a tiny blurb about runner up in a science completion in an old and long forgotten internet newspaper. From what the cameras are showing him, he looks a little crazy, hands wave with no apparent rhyme or reason as he plucks sections of code out and inserts new streams. “I don’t know, but one that it’s not obvious, like someplace in Asia.”

“Ha ha,” Laura deadpans. “Oh, I got it.” She moves her stylus back to the hologram, “My father was from Sweden, but moved to Italy when he met my mother on vacation. She’s from Italy, by the way.”

Tony pauses halfway through his ministrations. “Isn’t that some famous internet star’s story, or something similar?”

Laura gives an exaggerated sigh. “Of course it is. Then how about my dad was Canadian.”

It takes Tony a moment to process that, but the second he does he drops his hands and opens his eyes to give her his full attention. “Seriously? Your first choice was Sweden, yeah I get that, cool country, but you somehow jumped from Sweden to Canada? No hate on Canadians or anything, but how in the world did that come to your mind after Sweden?”

She tilts her head to the ceiling in the universal sign for ‘Lord give me patience’. “For god’s sake, Tony. What about a French dad?”

“No, the Italians don’t like the French, they think they’re a trash people of a trash country.”

“They can’t really think that.” She tells him, voice lilting up at the end in question.

“Well, it depends, my mom’s family liked them but our neighbors didn’t.” He shrugs and sticks out a hand, tilting it side to side. “It’s like sixty-forty, sixty being ‘oh they’re our cousins, we love them!’ and forty saying they suck.”

“Fine then! You choose.”

“How about we just make them American” Tony immediately offers.

“Alright,” Laura responds passive aggressively. “American it is. Even though it’s no fun, I guess they can be American.” She promptly smiles sweetly at him, which is a little off-putting. “I also had a husband.”

“I knew that part,” Tony grumbles. “Why don’t we move onto him.”

“Oh yay,” Laura claps her hands together and leans on the table. Her voice takes on what Tony would imagine a terrible Victorian accent would sound like. “I married a man named Cassius Bowman. It was a classic love story, fell in love, got married, had kids. It was so tragic when he began to develop a gambling addiction.”

She shakes her head like she’s trying to imitate the actors in those old films Tony can never remember the name of. “I received a phone call one night saying he was caught breaking and entering and had been arrested. He lost all of our savings gambling and was trying to find a way to gain more money. I felt as if his punishment was just, so I let him remain in custody. As with every good mother, I fell into the decision that I must divorce him, as although I still loved him so, he was harming our children. I began the paperwork and was conversing with the lawyers when those kind police officers came bearing the… terrible news.”

She stands up and snatches one of Lila’s fluffy feathered boas off the table, draping it across her shoulders like the hem to a robe. She puffs it up with the backs of her hands. “Oh Officers, I’m so terribly worried about my husband. I hope nothing bad has happened to him?”

Tony feels his annoyance draining away to be replaced with humor, and can’t hold his laughs in anymore after Laura breaks first and starts giggling.

“Wha-what the hell, Bowman?” Tony asks, clutching his stomach. He leans forward and ends up tumbling off the bar stool, falling with a thump to the floor. That just sets them off again, and soon they’re both gasping for air.

“...I’m not interrupting anything am I?”

Tony throws his head back from his spot on the tile and sees the upside down figure of Rhodey. “H-Hi, honey bear.” He doesn’t even try to calm himself down, grinning at his friend.

Laura clambers to her feet. “I-I’m going to l-let you guys have some-some alone time.” She seems to be holding down laughter by force of will at this point, face split so wide in a smile Tony is a little scared it will get stuck that way. As she saunters out, she calls, “Friday, where are the kids?”

“In the lab,” Tony says. “Like always.” She flips him off without looking. He rolls over when Rhodey chuckles.

“I already like her,” he points out.

“Me too,” Tony admits. He takes in his best friend’s appearance, noting how ragged and exhausted the man seems to be from the slump of his shoulders to the way he’s not so subtly relying on the arms of the wheel chair to keep him up.

“Listen-“

“Buddy-“

They both speak at the same time, and Tony pauses to let Rhodey finish his thought.

“C’mere Tones,” Rhodey invites softly after they are both quiet for an awkward few seconds, holding out his arms. Tony gratefully collapses into him, hiding his face in his friend’s shoulder. He feels Rhodey do the same, nose buried in his hair.

“I’m sorry,” Tony apologizes. “I should have been paying closer attention, if I had been faster, if-“

“Tones, stop,” Rhodey says, pulling him closer to his chest. “I knew the risks when I put on the suit. I knew what I was doing.” He sighs, noticeably gathering himself. “138. 138 combat missions. That’s how many I’ve flown, Tony. Every one of them could’ve been my last, but I flew them, because the fight needed to be fought. Is this a bad beat? Maybe. But I did it because it was right. Not just for you, although you were a big part of it. Even if you didn’t agree with me, I would still choose the side I did. I’m just-I’m sorry I didn’t stand up for you after Ultron. Thor grabbed your throat and I, I just sat there. Tones, I’m so, so sorry.”

There’s a wet spot growing on his shirt where Tony’s face is pressed against, and Tony can feel Rhodey’s tears dripping into his hair, but neither of them care enough to point it out.

“That wasn’t your fault,” Tony mutters. “If anyone’s at fault, it’s mi-Thor’s, for doing the deed in the first place.” He cut himself off, switching Thor’s name for his own, just like Laura had decided to start doing to drill it into his mind that Ultron, the Accords, and the resulting media dubbed ‘Civil War’ were his fault. The resulting feeling is oddly freeing, and he finds himself wondering why that is.

“Now let me take a look at my best friend who has somehow de-aged back to his college years,” Rhodey says after a few more moments’ embrace, before the quiet gets to be stifling. Reluctantly Tony pulls away, letting him search his face. “How’d you do that? No, really, how’d you do that, ‘cause I want some myself.”

“It won’t work for you,” Tony reveals. “Had to put the arc back in because it needs too much energy.” Rhodey grimaces, knowing how much Tony hated the first arc reactor. “Hey, but we’re cool, cause now I look sexy.” He waggles his brows teasingly.

Rhodey laughs. “Only you, only you could have multiple life changing experiences and spring back up only to brag about how sexy you look.”

“What can I say,” Tony shrugs. “It’s a gift.” They smile at each other stupidly, just soaking in each other’s presence.

“Now I heard something about kids?” Rhodey asks, raising his eyebrows. “What would they say about a visit from War Machine?”

**********

Tony groans, burying his head in the crook of his arm where its resting on the table. He doesn’t have to put up with this.

“I don’t have to put up with this,” he says.

Rhodey had decided to regale them all with tales of his and Tony’s college years during dinner, which weren’t as bad as he’s trying to make them seem, thank you very much.

“That’s nice,” Laura tells him, patting him on the head as she walks by to put her plate in the sink.

“Why do you wound me like this?” He whispers, squinting at her. “What in my life has led me to this moment?”

“I don’t know, but it must have been a lot of good things because I am amazing,” she sniffs seriously.

“That you are,” Tony concedes, lifting his head up. He raises his glass in toast and taking a sip. Grimacing, he forces himself not to spit it right back out. “What is this stuff?”

“Root beer,” Lila answers, cocking her head at him. “You don’t like it?”

“It’s disgusting,” Tony scowls, putting the nasty drink on the table and pushing it as far away from himself as he can.

“Have you never had root beer before?” Cooper inquires.

“Not that I’m aware of, unless I was drunk,” Tony replies, turning to Rhodey.

“Don’t look at me,” the man denies, raising his hands. “Even in the worst of your party days when you were basically blackout drunk 24/7 you refused to drink it. I’m pretty sure you tried to sue the last person who gave it to you.”

Tony glares at the brown liquid hatefully. “Drunk me has good tastes.”

“I don’t know how you don’t like root beer,” Lila complains. “It’s like the best drink ever.”

“It’s not even real beer,” he shoots back.

“Fine, I’ll have yours then.” She snatches up his glass and curls her body around it, as if daring him to take it away from her. His eyes widen at her incredulously. Their silent stare off is interrupted when Rhodey continues telling them about the Great Pentagon Fiasco of 1993.

As she regales her tale, Tony zones out and begins browsing through the news. They’re all starting to move on from the so-called superhero “Civil War” and onto the latest celebrity gossip. He almost moves from it to doing code upgrades, when a headline catches his eye.

What really happened in the Civil War? New video reveals shocking new evidence

A sick feeling in his stomach, Tony opens the link, one look at the thumbnail enough to send him spiraling into a panic attack.

With startling clarity, shiver runs down his spine, chills racking his entire body. His eyes lose their focus on the dinner before him, flurries of snow and concrete filling his sight. Distantly, he hears someone calling his name, but he’s too far gone for it to matter. He’s standing in a bunker, a broken suit surrounding him, metal digging into his skin and blood dripping onto the floor. His blood. He looks around frantically, trying to move, but he finds himself frozen to the spot. Words float around him.

“He’s my friend.” Tony flinches at the cold ice in the voice. “Unlike you. You should have done more to help us, to help him, to help me. You’re useless, a murderer.” His breathing hitches.

“Stop!” He calls, squeezing his eyes shut, but for some reason it’s as if his eyelids are made of glass. He can still see everything in perfect detail.

“A hypocrite.A thief. Do you think Laura really wants to be there? She just wants your money until Clint gets home. What about Maggie and Jim, or Pepper, or even Rhodey? They don’t care about you. No one does.”

“Y-you’re wrong,” Tony denies, but it sounds hollow to his own ears.

A horrible laugh echoes around the shadows. “You don’t really believe that, now do you Tony?” Finally, the speaker steps into his line of sight. The vibranium shield in Steve’s hand glints red, light catching it gruesomely. Barnes is barely clinging onto his shoulders with his good arm, but that’s not the worst part. They’re both covered in blood, eyes dead and void of emotion. Tony tries to look away, remembering the indifferent eyes of his mother that was worse than any hate Howard could spew, but his gaze is locked.

“What have you done for any of them?” Steve continues. “Yinsen’s dead because your suit wasn’t good enough. Rhodey’s paralyzed because you didn’t try hard enough to make ends meet. Pepper left you, the team’s forgotten you, and Laura’s stuck with you until Clint can get back. The world hates you, and you can only blame yourself. Innocents were killed because of your weapons.”

“I-I quit the weapons business,” Tony tries.

“Did you? What about Ultron, or the wormhole, that was your arc reactor used to power it, or even the suit?”

“Technically that’s a high tech prosthesis,” Tony argues feebly, but Steve’s not listening.

“Excuses, excuses, excuses,” he sing-songs. “That’s all you ever have. You take zero accountability for your actions.”

“That’s what the accords were for,” Tony bursts, fury simmering. “And you threw them away!” And just like that, all of his anger is gone again.

“Blaming other’s for the consequences of your own actions?” Wilson comes out of nowhere, Redwing’s bracelet that he gave him capturing his gaze. “That’s low even for you, Stark.”

“Is it really any surprise?” Maximoff asks, examining the red curling around her fingers. Her oriental rings glow in the low light. “He’s never cared about anything other than himself.”

“That’s-that’s not true,” Tony begs, trying to clap his hands over his ears.

“Better watch your back,” Clint sneers, his brand new bow looking perfectly at him in his hands.

“Compulsive, self-destructive, textbook narcissistic,” Natasha lilts, messing with latest build of widow bites. “It’s all there. Look, proof.” She gestures to the outside, and Tony finds himself turning involuntarily to stare in utter revulsion at the darkness beyond. Stars glint and glimmer as leviathans and and Chitauri make their way through a wormhole. One the other side is a landscape that looks suspiciously like a ruined New York City skyline. “You didn’t do enough. And the world is paying for it.”

Steve stalks up to him, and without warning Tony is lying on his back. There’s pain everywhere, his arms, his legs. He can’t breathe, feeling himself gasping, but nothing his happening. Steve straddles him, raising the shield above his head. Instead of his voice, Howard’s takes it’s place. “Idiot boy, you thought you we better than Captain America? Useless,” he spits, Steve’s face contorting cruelly, just like Howard’s. With each word, he slams the shield into his chest. “Worthless. Stupid. Weak.” He raises the shield one last time, paint scratched beyond repair. “Why continue living, if it’s only to make things worse?” With that, he brings the disk down, aiming for Tony’s neck.

******

Gasping, Tony’s eyes shoot open. He’s met with the relaxing charred ceiling of his room, the familiar feeling of his Egyptian cotton sheet against his skin, and the enticing smell of something burning.

“Friday,” he groans through their connection, throwing an arm over his eyes. “What’s on fire?”

“It appears that the kids wanted to make breakfast. The kitchen unfortunately could not withstand a small explosion, therefore it has been evacuated for the foreseeable future.”

“Shit,” he croaks aloud, bolting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He notices he’s in his boxers, so he throws on a tank top and some sweat pants. “Is anyone hurt?”

“There are no injuries,” she reports. “May I suggest you slow down a little, you’ve been out for a while.”

Tony frowns at this. “How long?”

“Sixteen hours, boss. You had a panic attack and passed out.”

“Sixteen hours?” Tony exclaims, ignoring the last bit and rushing to the door, flinging it open. “Why didn’t you wake me up? Is Rhodey still here?”

Choosing not to answer his first question, Friday replies, “Yes, Lt. Col. Rhodes is still in the building. He is currently asleep in his room.”

Tony forces the instinct to go see him away. There’s a literal fire to put out first, and besides, Tony doesn’t need to disturb his well deserved rest.

He slides into the kitchen, relaxing a bit when he realizes the flames are contained to the sink.

“How are you feeling?”

Spinning around, Tony grasps at his chest. “Marie, Einstein and Newton,” he curses. “You scared the Extremis out of me.”

“Sorry,” Laura apologizes with a grimace. “I asked Friday to tell me when you woke up so I could check on you.”

Tony opens his mouth, pauses, then shakes his head in bewilderment. “I don’t understand you.”

Pursing her lips and blinking, Laura looks around in confusion. “In what way?”

Tony doesn’t reply right away, instead moving over to the cabinets to find a flat cookie sheet that he places over the sink as a lid for the fire. “Why are you here Bowman? There’s nothing for you.”

Laura takes the question in stride. “I’ve already told you, Clint left us an-“

“No, why are you here?” He emphasizes, unintentionally repeating the question he first asked her after he first woke up. “With me, in the tower. I know you have a job, but why this job specifically? Why work for me? And why do you care so much about my well being? I’m a self-righteous, self-obsessed billionaire with a hero complex. What makes me so important?” He waves his hands around, still wound up from his nightmares dream.

“I am here because,” Laura says, “as hard as it is to believe, I care about you. You, who loves everything in this world that takes that love and throws it right back into your face. I care because you care. And it’s not only the personal things either, like checking up on us after Ultron, or buying the kids ridiculously expensive Christmas presents.

“No, who is it who’s always there after a battle, trying to help those who were trapped by the damage? Who is there, participating in the clean up, creating his own private sector of his company specifically for that purpose and building suits so that the manual labor can be decreased? Who saved over 50,000 agents, staff, and families when Rogers released all of that information on Shield?” She takes a deep breath, running a hand through her hair. “Look, the point is, it’s all about you.

“It’s you who saves those civilians, you who helps pay for damages and assists in clean ups, and you who singlehandedly rescued as many people as you could after the Shield-Hydra fiasco. No one sees it, but you do care, yet every time you put your heart on the line it is trampled and crushed until it’s broken into a million tiny pieces.And still you keep gluing it back together to the process can start all over again. I may have no right, but I care about you, not your money, not your power, not your status. Just you, because so much has happened that you don’t deserve and I want to help, in any way I can.”

“Thank you,” Tony mutters, at a loss for how to respond.

“You don’t have to thank me for something that should be given freely,” Laura reprimands. She looks him in the eyes, and his can see the raw honesty lying there. They drift into a not quite comfortable silence that stretches out into something more relaxed. That is, until Tony’s phone rings.

A burst of Extremis tells him it’s from Tennessee. With slight hesitation, he picks up. “Hello?”

“Mechanic?”

“Harley? How’s it going bud?”

“I saw the footage.”

Tony feels his heart fall deep into his chest. Yet another person to leave him for Captain America. He’s calling to let Tony know how much of a dick he is, and exactly what he thinks Tony should do. “And?”

“And I think Captain America’s an asshole, and that I want to take you up on your offer to live in New York.”

“...What?” Tony elegantly responds.

“As long as the offer is still open, I want to stay with you. I’ve already talked it over with Mom, she’s fine with it. The option is still available, right?”

“No. Yes. Wait. You want to live with me?”

“Uh, yeah,” Harley says slowly. “You’ve only asked every single time we talk.”

“Right. When-when do you want to come?”

“Within the next few days? I need a little time to transfer my school documents, but I’ve finished all of the tests and stuff. The next month’s really just a waiting game to see who needs more practice, and I know I passed so I’m fine.”

“Yeah. Ok. I’ll send down one of the Stark Jets Wed- what day is it? I’ll send one down Friday evening.”

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

“Take care kid,” Tony finally finds his voice.

“You too, Mech. See you soon.” Tony cuts the connection with bewildered look

Laura watches him carefully. “Who’s that?”

“His name’s Harley, he’s a- he’s a good kid. He’s going to come stay with us for a bit.”

“Good. We need more young spirit,” Laura says with a smile and a nod

Tony gasps in mock offense. “Are you calling me old, Bowman?”

She flicks him on the arm. “Got anymore kiddos hidden out in the world?”

Tony rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, not bothering to correct her. “None biologically? He’s not mine either.”

“That’s not what I was asking.”

“There might be another?” Tony offers, fidgeting with his hands. “I’m not really sure he knows that though.” He thinks about the voicemails he had already been receiving by the dozen in the past week alone. “Actually, you know what, he should come by and hang out.”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Laura praises. “Maybe he can come by as well to help us for the weekend while we remodel our rooms?”

“I can ask,” he agrees.

“Good, you do that. Now that that’s over,” she looks to the sink at where the flames have died down but is still smoking. “How about I make some pancakes. If the kids didn’t use all of the batter.”

It isn’t until hours later that Tony realizes she never brought up the video.

*******

“Friday, where are the kids?”

Friday hesitates, a split second of confusion filtering through to him before answering. “They are right in front of you, boss.”

Tony stares at the offspring in the living room in front of him, narrowing his eyes. He brings a hand up to rub at the bridge of his nose, and looks back. They’re still sitting there in the exact same position. “But there’s five kids here. Laura only has three.” Rhodey snorts from behind him. Tony ignores it.

“Yes, boss,” Friday responds with a small amount of amusement. “Ms. Bowman does have three children. Today is Friday, however.”

Tony cocks his head. “Huh.”

“Mechanic, you’re an idiot,” Harley tells him with a grin, hopping right up and giving him a hug. Tony embraces him back just as tightly.

“My seven PhDs would disagree with you there,” Tony murmurs back to him. He feels Harley grin into his shoulder, but the boy doesn’t say anything. As Harley pulls away, Tony turns back to the couch. “Hey Underoos.”

“H-hi Mr. Stark,” Peter stutters. Tony rolls his eyes, holding out an arm and pulling the kid up off of the cushions and into a side hug.

“How’s Karen doing? Good name, by the way.”

“Oh, um, she’s doing good, thanks,” Peter replies. Tony grins, feeling Karen’s code establish an uplink with the tower and Tadashi, Friday, and Jo greeting her.

“Wait hold on,” Harley interrupts, eyes darting between them. “You gave him an AI? Before me?”

“Tadashi wasn’t ready yet. He is now,” Tony tells him. Harley squints at him and Tony sighs. “Tadashi, please tell Harley I’m not lying.”

“Tony is not lying,” Tadashi loyally recites. “My fabrication was only completed just before Karen’s.”

“A likely excuse,” Harley scoffs, but Tony can tell he’s hiding a smile. Rhodey wheels himself forward.

“I don’t think we’ve met. Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes.” He sticks out his hand towards the boys.

“Harley Keener,”Harley says, shaking it.

Peter does likewise. “Peter Parker.”

Laura’s kids, who have been uncharacteristically quiet the entire time, apparently run out of patience.

“My names Cooper,” Cooper says. “Lila’s my sister, and Nathaniel’s my brother, but you can just call him Nate.”

“Okay,” Lila announces. “We all know each other’s names, can we please start painting now?”

Peter wrinkles his nose. “Painting?”

“The Bowman’s want to remodel, and they would like you guys to help,” Tony tells them.

“Um, yes,” Harley says, as if it is a no-brainer. “You are giving me the chance to wreck Tony Stark’s house.”

“Now hold on a second,” Tony backtracks as quick as he can. “No one said anything about destroying shi-stuff.” He rolls his eyes when Lila gives him a look. “Shut up, I didn’t actually say it.”

“Doe-ni,” comes a high voice and damn even Nathaniel sounds reproachful. “Up.” Tony huffs and picks the toddler up. He immediately wiggles to get comfortable and lays his head on Tony’s shoulder, staring at Harley intently.

“Look, here’s what’s going to happen. If Harley and Peter want to, you all can go help out Laura in painting their rooms. You have to listen to her, and follow her rules.” He directs the last words at the Bowman children in particular, because although Laura needs no help in the parenting department, he thinks she wouldn’t refuse a little backup.

“We’ll be good,” Cooper promises, and Lila grabs both Peter and Harley’s hands, dragging them down the hall and out of sight as fast as she can. Cooper races after her.

“What do you think, bud?” Tony asks Nate. “You wanna help, or are you just going to take a nap.”

“Nap,” Nathaniel says.

“Fair enough,” Tony acquiesces. He turns to Rhodey, who jerks his head to the hallway. Tony understands and follows him.

Rhodey is the first to break the silence. “You know you’re going to have to make a public appearance soon.”

Tony sighs, trying not to pay attention to the way his heartbeat speeds up at the reminder. “Yeah, I know. I’m just- I’m not ready, you know? I don’t think I can go out there and face the vultures yet.”

“Tones, I’ll support you in whatever you do. You don’t have to justify yourself to me. Just let me know if you plan on pulling an ‘08 on me again or something buddy.”

Tony chuckles, forcing his anxiety down with gently rubbing Nathaniel’s back. “I don’t think anything I’ll ever do will surpass ‘I am Iron Man.’” His steps stutter for a moment, and he hurries to regain his pace with Rhodey, a strange feeling washing over him. Almost foreboding in a way. He tries to brush it off. “Why aren’t you wearing your braces? Are they functioning okay? Comfortable?”

It’s Rhodey’s turn to laugh at that. “They’re perfectly fine, Tones. I’m just a little sore today, that’s all. Unlike some, most of us still have to deal with getting old.”

“Platypus, you’re not old,” Tony immediately denies. “You’ve aged like cheese.” He pauses for dramatic effect. “Getting grayer and grayer with every day that passes.”

“You little shit,” Rhodey blurts, shoulders heaving with repressed mirth. He shakes his head. “Hey, where’s Vision?”

“Nepal, last Friday and Jo checked. There’s not a lot of uplinks there though, and he hit some spot even our satellites couldn’t connect to. It was completely dead.” Tony sighs while Rhodey rubs his head, both unknowing where to go from there.

A scream emanates from the room at the end of the hall. Eyes wides, Tony thrusts Nathaniel into Rhodey’s hands, racing to the room. He breathes a sigh of relief at the sight of no blood, and then immediately face palms. Peter is hanging from the ceiling, breathing hard, the others staring at him in disbelief. All except Harley, who’s gaze is focused sole on the object of Peter’s attention: Demon.

“You’re Spider-man!” Cooper blurts.

“Wha-what, no I’m not,” Peter stubbornly denies, dropping soundlessly to the floor.

“You were on the roof,” Laura says dryly.

“No I- fuck,” Peter mutters, defeated.

“Language,” Lila chirps.

“What is that thing?” Harley breathes, locked in a staring contest with the bot.

“That’s just Demon, our robot wolf,” Lila tells him cheerfully. “She can kill you in less than ten seconds.”

“Why?” Is all Peter has to ask.

“Unlike a certain super-powered child who was supposed to have a secret identity, the Bowman’s needed a guard dog.” Tony gives him his best disappointed glare. It apparently has no effect.

“As opposed to what, an entire helicarrier?” Harley wonders incredulously.

“Calm down, Friday already told her you guys were friends. Demon won’t hurt you unless you hurt one of us.” Lila prances over and rubs Demon behind the ears. “Right girl, you’re such a good girl.”

Tony fights to keep the smile off of his face at the utter delight Demon is releasing and instead turns on Peter. “You didn’t even last two hours.”

“Oops?” Peter replies slowly. “In my defense, I wasn’t expected a stuffed animal to set off my senses and suddenly come alive and approach me.”

Tony has no words for that. “How the entirety of Queens doesn’t know your identity by now is beyond me. Changing in alleyways, leaving your backpacks webbed up everywhere. God, kid, you’re a chaotic mess.”

“I’d say he’s somewhere in the chaotic good range,” Harley muses.

“Ah, I see you too are a man of culture,” Peter says with a curt nod. Tony scrunches his face in confusion.

“What does that even mean?”

“The alignment. You know, lawful good, true neutral, that type thing?” Harley waits expectantly so Tony calls it up quickly. Even after a brief search of the history of it and how it is used, he’s still out of his element.

“Where do I go?” Cooper asks. “I’ve always been curious.”

Haley glances over him in consideration. “Based on our limited interactions, I would probably put you in lawful evil. You just strike me as that type.”

“Nah, to me he seems more...” Peter falters. “I wanna say good evil but that’s not a choice. Yeah I guess so. Lawful evil.”

Tony leans over to Rhodey. “I have no idea what is going on,” he whispers.

“Me neither,” Rhodey, who had entered the room unnoticed, hisses back.

“Lila, of course, is just straight up chaotic evil. She may not look it, but that’s not a hard one at all,” Harley declares.

“You’re either neutral evil or chaotic neutral,” Peter tells him. “I can’t decide.”

“Ya know, I’ve never met a true neutral,” Harley says thoughtfully.

“Oh, I have friend, MJ, she’s the truest neutral to true neutral,” Peter explains seriously. Tony didn’t understand any of that. “I’ll have to introduce you sometime.”

“Sounds good,” Harley says. Not a moment later, they begin bickering over tools and paint colors, the other kids joining in easily. Tony feels like he may have made a mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m curious: where would you guys align the Marvel characters, and where would you align yourself? I stride for chaotic good, but most the time just reach neutral good.

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up on Tumblr @Watermelons000
> 
> Comments/Kudos are appreciated.
> 
> Nothing of a critiquing nature, thank you!


End file.
